Interview Ombeline Bernard Manusset Allant « To support the changes, we must continue to innovate »

Tunisia is the place to be, there are plenty of opportunities. The strength of this country remains the men and women who want a more modern Tunisia… Vocalcom, software publisher, world leader in contact center solutions and customer experience optimization, finds resources there qualified. It has become the African head quarter and a potential hub to conquer Africa for Vocalcom, which has adapted to the post-covid period. Ombeline Bernard Manusset Allant, Vice-President Africa Vocalcom, tells us a little more.

 

 

Before talking about Vocalcom, a word about Tunisia which is celebrating the tenth year of its revolution. How do you see the country and the decade that has passed?

 

I have been in Tunisia for over 15 years and Vocalcom is the 3rd company I work for in the country. For me Tunisia is a choice of life. First of all, I deeply love the country. Second, I believe this is the place to be: the opportunities we have here are enormous.

So it’s true that, for 10 years, there have been a lot of fights that have been waged and still a lot of things to do, but Tunisia’s asset remains the men and women who want a more modern Tunisia, a Tunisia that ahead, a Tunisia which innovates …

Opportunities and skills are here turned to Europe, turned to other African countries … turned to the world.

 

 

Tell us about Vocalcom and the choice of Tunisia for its development on the African market, since 2007?

 

Vocalcom is a French group, which is more than 25 years old, software publisher, world leader in its market of contact center solutions and customer experience optimization.

We have offices in 15 countries and we cover a little over fifty, through our partners.

We have more than 1,400 corporate clients and more than 550,000 users in 47 countries around the world

Vocalcom in Tunisia has been offering customer relationship management solutions to companies for more than 10 years. These solutions, which are omnichannel, therefore allow interaction on all available channels: voice, SMS, email, fax, video, live chat, Facebook, twitter, Instagram.

In Tunisia, we have a commercial service, an administration and a technical service. For the past year, we have had a new QA service in Siliana (with a team of testers) for the rest of the world subsidiaries: this service was able to see the light of day thanks to the development of regions, to the Elife project.

From Tunisia, we manage 25 African countries (Algeria, Nigeria, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo, Ethiopia, Burundi, Djibouti, DRC, Kenya, Mauritius, Madagascar…).

Our customer portfolio is thus made up of banks, insurance companies, Telecom operators, electricity companies, etc.: all companies that need to manage their customer relationship.

 

The choice of Tunisia:

– We can never say it enough but human value is always the strongest. We have qualified resources in Tunisia.

– These qualified resources are also there because we have recognized schools and then we have an ecosystem that promotes skills or businesses: Smart Tunisia, Elife Program,

– It is a French-speaking country with cultural similarities. But we also have no problem with other languages: we work a lot in East Africa, so English-speaking countries without any difficulties.

– The image of Tunisia is very good because the country is often equated with competence and seriousness. This is valid in Europe with the hiring of many Tunisians in companies, but also in Africa. In a continent taken over by Indians and Chinese, we have a real card to play in fostering South-South relations and that is exactly what we are doing. At Vocalcom, Tunisia has become the African head quarter and becomes a hub for conquering Africa.

 

What is your positioning on the local market?

 

We are the leader in the local market.

 

In this context of the Covid 19 crisis, your solutions must have been particularly requested by your customers?

 

What we have just experienced has changed all our habits and it has redistributed the cards.

The positive point of this global crisis is that we have to rethink our working methods, adapt even more quickly and tame the new parameters, relying on a strong team.

 

Here are the 5 post-COVID trends that we have identified at Vocalcom:

 

1- The cloud:

 

The cloud has been crucial in maintaining business continuity and facilitating remote working during the COVID-19 health crisis.

 

 

2- The telework revolution

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly accelerated the trend towards remote work. Moreover, today employees are asking for more and a large part of our customers continue in this fashion.

 

 

3- How AI will change the customer relationship

 

Before the COVID-19 crisis, self-service and automation were already becoming the norm to meet growing customer expectations for 24/7 service and an effortless experience.

A trend that should continue to improve the customer experience and reduce costs.

 

5- The imperative of the omnicannal

 

I must be able to contact my interlocutor by phone, facebook, whatsapp …

 

 

6- The new overkill agent

 

The main merit of emerging technologies is not to replace people, but to give them tools to make them more productive, more creative and, paradoxically, more empathetic. In other words, technology can make us more « human ».

 

You signed a partnership with ULT university last September. Is the transfer of skills also at this level that you position yourself in Tunisia? A country where the issue of unemployed graduates remains one of the main challenges. What role can the private sector and international companies like yours play in addressing this?

 

The main contribution of this initiative will be to improve entrepreneurship among students. This rapprochement between the academic world and the socio-professional world will give students the opportunity to gain professional maturity throughout their academic studies thanks to the sponsorship mechanisms which will be piloted, in this case, by Vocalcom Tunisia.

 

Businesses have a role to play and a responsibility for students. We cannot complain about having a disconnect between theory and practice and not taking action. Vocalcom Tunisia has therefore decided to participate in this experience with the ULT to increase professionalization and facilitate employability.

It will also be an opportunity for the Vocalcom Tunisia team to share their African experience, because as Oscar Wilde wrote: « All you can do with good advice is pass it on. To those who receive it, it is never of any use ”

 

 

To conclude, what is your roadmap for the years to come? With the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, now more than ever the time has come for innovation …

 

There has never been a technological revolution, but changes in usage. We still have proof of that today.

 

The role of humans is essential. First, the crisis has made people and institutions aware of the advantage of this digitization and we have seen it in all sectors: teleworking, online payment, online declaration, distance education, distance medicine … crisis has changed our mentalities. Now that we are aware of this, we must capitalize on what we have learned and launch projects, not also hesitate to favor the Public / Private which often gives incredible results. Finally, the Vocalcom Tunisia teams will be further strengthened to be able to respond to the various challenges.

To support the changes, we must continue to innovate: this specificity is part of Vocalcom’s DNA and we have some great surprises in store for you with our new version: Hermes360.